Louisiana's Cottage Food Law

Louisiana's cottage food law allows individuals to produce and sell certain homemade food products directly from their residential kitchen without operating as a licensed food facility. The law covers non-potentially hazardous foods, meaning shelf-stable products that don't require refrigeration to stay safe. If you're a home baker or small-scale food producer in Louisiana, this law is designed to let you sell your goods without the overhead of a commercial kitchen.

You can sell your cottage food products through direct, in-person channels such as farmers markets, roadside stands, fairs, and directly from your home. Online sales are not permitted under Louisiana's cottage food law, and you cannot ship products to customers. All transactions must happen face-to-face, which means your sales are limited to buyers you can reach in person within the state.

Your annual gross sales cannot exceed $20,000, which keeps your operation in the cottage food category. No permit or registration is required to get started, which makes Louisiana relatively low-barrier for new producers. One notable feature is that Louisiana ties the law specifically to home kitchens, not separate on-property structures. As your customer base grows, that revenue cap gives you meaningful room to build a real business before needing to scale up.